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Elementary Archive

Browse Elementary Word Problems

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How Many Pages? [10/04/1997]

A printer uses 837 digits to number the pages of a book. How many pages are there in the book?

How Many Pencils? [9/11/1996]

How many pencils does Al have if all of them are blue except two, all of them are yellow except two, and all of them are red except two?

How Much did the Tree Grow? [11/07/2001]

A white pine was 16 m tall in 1962. It was 20 m tall in 1965. It is now 34 m tall. How much has it grown since 1962?

How Much Does Each Rabbit Weigh? [10/21/2002]

Rabbit 1 + Rabbit 2 = 6kg; Rabbit 2 + Rabbit 3 = 9kg; Rabbit 1 + Rabbit 3 = 11kg. How much does each rabbit weigh?

How to Interpret "Increase" in Word Problems [10/19/2004]

How do I increase 3.7 by 1/10?

Importance of Considering Units in Division Problems [01/27/2005]

"Draw a picture to show the problem then write a division sentence. Bobby has 12 model cars. He puts them in cases. Each case holds 4 cars. How many cases does he fill?" My son drew 3 boxes with four dotsin each and wrote 12/3 equals 4 and answered that bobby filled 3 cases. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Inconsistent System of Equations? Look Closer! [11/17/2004]

When Alexis, Chelsea, and Kammi had lunch together, Alexis spent $1.60 for two small hamburgers, a drink and one order of fries. Chelsea's two orders of fries, two drinks and one small burger cost $1.40 altogether. How much does Kammi owe for a small burger, one order of fries and one drink?

Interpreting "Less" and "Less Than" in Word Problems [10/18/2004]

Find all numbers such that 9 less than the product of the number and -4 is less than 7.

Key Words to Suggest What Operation to Use [12/08/2005]

Are there words or phrases like 'in all' that help suggest what operation to use to solve a word problem?

Lemonade Proportions [04/02/1998]

If lemonade is made with a ratio of 3 cups water to 2 cups lemon juice, how many cups of lemon juice are in 10 gallons of lemonade?

Longfellow's Bees [08/01/2002]

One-fifth of some bees fly to the rosebush, one-third fly to the apple tree, and three times the difference fly to the acorn tree. One bee is left flying around. How many bees are there altogether?

Making up a Division Word Problem [11/13/2001]

Write a problem that could be solved by using the division sentence 1489/28=n; then write a pair of compatible numbers and estimate the quotient.

Measuring Four Cups of Flour [2/27/1995]

A cook is making a cake that requires four cups of flour. She only has two measures, which hold 7 cups and 10 cups. How can she use her measures to measure exactly 4 cups?

Nine Chickens, Ten Days [02/26/2002]

If a chicken and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half then, how many eggs will nine chickens lay in ten days?

Orange and Grape Sodas [08/24/2002]

Douglas bought a total of 50 cans of orange and grape sodas. He bought 12 more cans of grape than orange. How many of each did he buy?

Organizing a Word Problem [03/21/2000]

Backstreet Boys front-row tickets cost $35, center stage $25, balcony $15, t-shirts $10, and posters $8. John buys 2 front-row tickets, 2 t- shirts, and 2 posters. How much does he spend?

Painting Lines for Football [6/3/1996]

How many cans of paint does it take to stripe a football field?

Passing the Ball [09/27/1997]

How long would it take to pass a basketball from one person to another 2833 miles from San Francisco to Washington, DC?

Pennies and Remainders [01/13/2003]

Arnie has between 300 and 400 pennies in his collection. When he divides them into groups of 4, 5, or 9, there is always one penny left over. How many pennies does Arnie's collection contain?

Presidential Logic [10/28/2002]

A history test has three questions on Presidents of the United States...

Price before Discount [6/3/1996]

A calculator's price is discounted 20 percent. After adding 7 percent tax...

Price of Pencils [10/07/2002]

Each year for the last 7 years the price of pencils has increased, and the new price is the sum of the prices for the two previous years. Last year a pencil cost 60 cents. How much does a pencil cost today? How much did a pencil cost 7 years ago?

Problem Solving and Mental Process [10/03/2002]

Two numbers add up to 19. The difference between the two numbers is 3. What are the numbers?

Relative Wind [11/8/1994]

If you know the speed of an object, can you determine the speed of the relative wind?

Rows of Cans of Tuna [8/26/1996]

The tuna cans are arranged in a display that has 4 rows...

Sales and Taxes [03/11/2001]

I bought $27.97 worth of food. The food tax is 5.5%. I'm trying to find the tax I have to pay, and the total amount that I pay.

Selling the Bike [3/1/1995]

Billy bought a bike for $40 and sold it for $50. He plans to buy it back for $60 and sell it again for $70. Will he make money, lose money, or come out even?

Solution Using Verbal Argument and Model [02/06/2002]

Mr. Li has fewer than 200 sweets. He wants to give each pupil in his class an equal number of sweets. If he gives each pupil 2 sweets, he will have 70 sweets left over; if 4, he will need 10 more sweets. How many pupils are there in the class? How many sweets does Mr. Li have?

Stealing Eggs [04/17/1997]

Each of ten children on an Easter egg hunt finds 10 eggs. Suddenly a child steals one egg from each of the others. How many eggs are left?

Story Problems: Real, Realistic, Theoretical [10/24/2002]

I am trying to get the definitions for theoretical, realistic, and real problems to be able to determine different types of story problems.

Strategies for Solving Word Problems with Fractions and Units [08/02/2007]

On a road map with a scale of 1/4 inch per 10 miles, the highway from Waukee to Winterset is 1 3/8 inches long. How many miles long is this highway?

Sum of Products [11/01/1999]

When a word problem refers to the sum of the products, what exactly does it mean?

To Multiply or Divide? That Is the Question. [09/02/2003]

In a story problem, how do you know whether to multiply or divide?

Total Number of Pupils [03/21/2001]

In a class, 5/8 of the pupils are boys. There are 8 more boys than girls. What is the total number of pupils in the class?

Touring China and Thailand [5/30/1996]

A tour to China is twice as long as a tour to Thailand. If the two tours together last 5 weeks and 1 day, how long is the tour to China?

Turning a Sentence into a Variable Expression [9/7/1996]

How do I write out "The difference when a number T is subtracted from 18"?

Turning Word Problems to Equations [03/08/2001]

How do you turn English sentences into math equations?

Two Coins Problem [11/22/2006]

I have two U.S. coins that when added together total fifty-five cents, but one is not a nickel. What two coins do I have?

Two Division Questions [2/1/1995]

There are 9 men. How many cookies would each man get if there were 113 cookies? Also, what is 1,623,341 divided by 1.632 x 963.2389?

Using Tables to Tame a Problem [09/19/2003]

Racing bikes are either silver or blue. Every silver bike is a racing model. 1/2 of the blue bikes are racing models. 1/3 of the bikes are racing models. There are 40 blue bikes and 30 silver bikes. How many bicycles are neither blue nor silver?

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